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IMDb > Coma (1978)
Coma
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Overview

User Rating:
6.8/10   5,820 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 13% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Michael Crichton
Writers:
Robin Cook (novel)
Michael Crichton (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Coma on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
6 January 1978 (USA) more
Genre:
Thriller | Mystery more
Tagline:
Imagine your life hangs by a thread. Imagine your body hangs by a wire. Imagine you're not imagining.
Plot:
A young woman doctor discovers something sinister going on in her hospital. Relatively healthy patients... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Cronenberg And Romero Spill Red Ink With New Horror Novels
 (From FilmSchoolRejects. 16 April 2009, 11:03 AM, PDT)

Tanushree - Hook by Robin Cook! - News
 (From GlamSham. 4 March 2009, 10:30 AM, PST)

User Comments:
Fine medical thriller; good work by Bujold and Widmark more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Geneviève Bujold ... Dr. Susan Wheeler (as Genevieve Bujold)

Michael Douglas ... Dr. Mark Bellows
Elizabeth Ashley ... Mrs. Emerson

Rip Torn ... Dr. George

Richard Widmark ... Dr. Harris
Lois Chiles ... Nancy Greenly
Hari Rhodes ... Dr. Morelind (as Harry Rhodes)
Gary Barton ... Computer Technician
Frank Downing ... Kelly

Richard Doyle ... Jim
Alan Haufrect ... Dr. Marcus
Lance LeGault ... Vince (as Lance Le Gault)
Michael MacRae ... Chief Resident

Betty McGuire ... Nurse

Tom Selleck ... Sean Murphy
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Additional Details

Runtime:
113 min | Belgium:104 min (video version)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (cut) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) | USA:TV-PG (2006) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 (1978) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:M | Singapore:PG

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Director Michael Crichton and author Robin Cook are both doctors. more
Goofs:
Continuity: The MG-B that Dr. Wheeler drives in the opening scene with a tan interior and a black plastic honeycomb grille switches to an earlier model with a black interior and an all chrome grille (noticeable in the scene where the car will not start). When Dr. Wheeler visits the Jefferson Institute, it has switched back to the MG-B with the tan interior and black grille. more
Quotes:
Dr. Susan Wheeler: You did it.
[Put people in irreversible comas]
Dr. George A. Harris: No decision is easy, Sue. It only looks that way when you're young. When you're older, everything is complicated. There is no black and white, only gray.
more
Movie Connections:
Spoofed in "Earth: Final Conflict: Deep Sleep (#5.13)" (2002) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
19 out of 23 people found the following comment useful:-
Fine medical thriller; good work by Bujold and Widmark, 23 April 2000
Author: Ed Uthman (uthman@airmail.net) from Houston, Texas

In COMA, petite heroine Genevieve Bujold shows you don't have to be an amazon like Sigourney Weaver or Lucy Lawless to get physical with the bad guys. Set against a hospital backdrop ranking in verisimilitude with that of THE HOSPITAL (the only other accurate medical drama of the 1970's), this is a gripping thriller even on repeat viewing over twenty years later. Bujold's acting has been mentioned by other reviewers, but I would award special accolades to Richard Widmark, whose character's unctuous avuncularity is executed with superb subtlety. Plus, he even comports himself just like a real physician of seniority.

I do have a few complaints, not least of which is the gratuitous and grossly inaccurate portrayal of clinical lab personnel and the laboratory environment. Shame on Crichton, who must have missed out on visiting the lab through his entire tenure as a medical student. The laserdisc transfer is technically one of the worst I have in my collection. The monaural soundtrack is overdriven and distorted; the colors are washed out; and careless unmasking of the print (COMA is not letterboxed) results in visible boom mikes in several shots.

Still, this is a classic film, and anyone who wants to get up to speed on medical movies wouldn't want to exclude COMA.

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